THE EXPERT’S VIEW
IAN HIRST
AT THIS time of the year, as the water temperature drops, you’ll find that high-oil offerings such as halibut, krill and trout pellets become less attractive to carp as they struggle to digest them.
Carp are cold-blooded creatures, so their metabolism slows right down in winter.
During the cooler months lots of my fishing includes the use of PVA mesh bags filled with bite-sized amounts of low-oil fishmeal carp pellets.
These fishmeal pellets will leak out attraction, as they are more soluble and are lighter in colour and easier for the carp to see. Importantly, the carp can also easily digest them, which means they can eat more frequently.
Another tip I like when fishing with these little PVA pellet bags is to catapult one or two additional bags close to the one I have attached to my baited hook. I think this fools wary carp that are used to seeing a single small pile of bait – having one or two other little bite-sized piles of pellet close by will confuse them and make them less wary of the ‘danger’ bag.
Small bags of low-oil pellets tend to be very lightweight so catapulting them out can be difficult. To help you gain extra weight and therefore extra yards, try adding one or even two small, dry pebbles inside the bag. The extra weight makes catapulting them easier and much more accurate, and in deeper water it will help the bag hit the bottom before it melts.